Experimental improvised music continues to play on the fringes of musical society, but the number of festivals celebrating it is growing. While Europe is known as a hotspot of creativity for the improvised music scene, so too are Japan, Australia, and increasingly, the United States.
This weekend sees two young festivals continue to flourish on both sides of the Atlantic. The unlikely US city of Baltimore surprised critics in 1999 with the success of ‘High Zero’, and is now hosting its fourth annual festival of experimental improvised music this weekend.
High Zero has, in fact, garnered considerable coverage from the mainstream press over the past few years, including the Washington Post and national jazz magazine, Cadence.
Meanwhile, in Britain, Liverpool – still buzzing with the Liverpool Biennial – is to host five days of eclectic explorations into improvisation, with the fifth Frakture Festival of Improvised and Electronic Music, starting this weekend.
Frakture, a voluntary organisation, was established by improv musicians Phil Morton and Phil Hargreaves in 1997, following a concert they presented featuring one of improvised music’s most prominent performers, Derek Bailey.
According to Morton, Frakture was initially established to create a platform for their own performances. ‘Frakture was created as a way to provide an outlet for ourselves, as a venue, because there was nowhere for us to play,’ he explains. ‘However, the festival developed on top of that. It was also a way of getting more funding.’
‘It started off in the Picket, an unemployed resource centre, which was a gig mainly for young punkish bands. Now it’s based at the Bluecoats Art Centre.’
Over the past four years, the festival has offered a packed concert program, and Morton says that although this year’s event is smaller, it is more focused.
‘Last year there were ten evenings of music and ten gigs. Now we have three nights, with three acts per night. This way, it’s more about featuring particular performances. You get to see three different types of improvised music,’ Morton says.
Morton runs Frakture with fellow musicians Adam Webster and Neil Murphy. The venture has created a number of spin-off projects, including Morton’s Listening Room, a venue for improvised music, soundscapes, themed CD shows and retrospectives.
The Frakture Big Band also emerged, currently run by festival co-founder, Phil Hargreaves. A concert and rehearsal group exploring the use of compositions within the improvised music framework, the band will, during the festival, host open rehearsals, to provide the opportunity for anyone to play, rather than just attend gigs.
Morton, aside from performing with his band, Swung Dash, is also excited about his live event, What You Hear is What You Get. The unique set-up of the gig is designed to impress the idea on audiences that the music they hear is their own construction, he explains.
‘The audience are in a tent inside the venue; they can’t actually see what’s going on… There’s a continuous line-up of acts playing for four hours. It includes soundscapes of Livepool; aeroplanes, whatever I can get my hands on.’
‘They don’t know if it’s a balloon making the noise or a synthesiser,’ he continues. ‘It’s the listener who makes it into music – “what you hear is what you get” is a play on that.’
Another performance Morton is looking forward to is Angel High Wires, which he describes as ‘supernatural balladry,’ and which will combine computer-generated sounds, flute, bass clarinets, female vocals and a poet, Geraldine Monk.
According to Morton, the festival still appeals to a very niche audience. However, he adds, as with any other genre, big names means bums on seats. Next year, the festival aims to feature Derek Bailey in-residence, for instance.
The Frakture team hope to build on the festival over the next few years, incorporating workshops and experimenting with different venues. But, Morton says, whether this is achieved or not is dependent on further funding. In the past, organisers have relied on financial support from local arts boards, lottery schemes and the local council, but this doesn’t always pay the wages.
‘The problem with this is that we’re not fully funded, so that restricts what we can do. It’s voluntarily run, so there’s a limit to how much you can develop, because you hit the glass ceiling. We’re trying to find ways of getting better funding, so we people are paid, and we can develop the range of services and opportunities,’ Morton comments.
‘We have to get funding to pay Frakture staff. The actual act of applying for funding is hard work,’ he concludes. ‘You have to jump through hoops these days.’
The fifth Frakture Festival of Improvised and Electronic Music, September 28 and October 3-6, will be held at the Bluecoat Arts Centre, the Casa, and Friends Meeting House. For full details, visit the Frakture website
